Saturday, July 25, 2009

Honduras, School for Coups

The day after Honduran President Manuel Zelaya wasdeposed, President Barack Obama cautioned againstrepeating Latin America's "dark past," decades whenmilitary coups regularly overrode the results ofdemocratic elections. Obama went on to acknowledge, inhis understated way, "The United States has not alwaysstood as it should with some of these fledglingdemocracies."

In fact, the U.S. government has often stood with - orat least behind - the coup-makers. Examples includeGuatemala in 1954, Brazil in 1964, Chile in 1973, andVenezuela in 2002 (this last coup attempt, againstPresident Hugo Chávez, was reversed). Also, throughoutmost of the 1980s, the Reagan administration subsidizedand helped direct the "contra" (meaning counter-revolutionary) war against the Nicaraguan governmentand people.

Notably, the June 28 coup against Zelaya and theHonduran electorate traces back to the U.S. Army Schoolof the Americas (SOA). Originally established in Panamain 1946, the school was the U.S. Army's premier sitefor training Latin American officers and soldiers inmilitary intelligence and combat operations, supposedlywithin the letter of the law.

Within 20 years, however, it was known in LatinAmerican military circles as "la Escuela de Golpes" -the School of Coups. And in the early 1980s, PanamanianPresident Jorge Illueca declared the SOA "the biggestbase for destabilization in Latin America." The "Schoolof Coups" moved to Ft. Benning, Georgia, in 1984.

School rosters obtained through the Freedom ofInformation Act show that General Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, leader of the recent Honduran coup, trainedthere in 1976 and 1984. He was assisted in deposingPresident Zelaya by General Luis Javier Prince Suazo,head of the Honduran Air Force, who in 1996 ratherpresciently took an SOA course in Joint Operations.

Fingerprints

But the school's fingerprints have long been evident inHonduras. A death squad known as Battalion 3-16 wasorganized in the 1980s and operated clandestinely foryears - kidnapping, forcibly disappearing, andtorturing political opponents, and killing at least 184of them. Nineteen members of Battalion 3-16 are knownto have graduated from the School of the Americas,including three generals who directed battalionactivities.

School officials have long insisted that its graduateswho flaunt the rule of law do so despite theirtraining. They are, according to that argument, justinevitable "bad apples."

But, to the contrary, documentary evidence indicatesthese students have learned their lessons well. In1996, for example, President Bill Clinton's DefenseDepartment revealed that training materials used from1982-1991 at the School had instructed Latin Americanmilitary officers and soldiers to target civilianpopulations and use torture, intimidation, falsearrest, extrajudicial execution, blackmail, and moreinhumane tactics.

So, while SOA training has emboldened golpistas (coup-makers) to act against legitimately elected heads ofstate, it also has provoked crimes against citizenschallenging illegitimate or antidemocratic powers. AsBerta Oliva - who coordinates the Committee ofRelatives of the Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) -said of soldiers repressing anti-coup protests: "Theyview those who demand their rights as if they wereenemies."

Oliva will never forget the Battalion 3-16 years. Shefounded the COFADEH after her husband was kidnapped anddisappeared in 1982. About the recent military coup inher country, she observed: "They've made a return tothe 1980s.... Friendly governments who hold democraticideals simply cannot allow this to happen here.

Shine the Light

Arguably the only way for Latin America to avoidrepeating its "dark past" is to shine a bright lightinto it, for all to see. At the fifth Summit of theAmericas last April, Obama noted the importance oflearning from history. And he declared, "The UnitedStates will be willing to acknowledge past errors wherethose errors have been made."

With H.R. 2567, the Latin America Military TrainingReview Act, Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and 57 co-sponsors are offering us a light to shine. Thislegislation would suspend operations at the WesternHemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC)- the "successor institution" to the School of theAmericas, which is still located at Ft. Benning. Then abipartisan congressional taskforce would investigatedecades of its activities and teaching materials.

Certainly "errors have been made." Some at this momentare threatening to override the will of the Honduranelectorate.

It's time. It's past time. Shine the light on theSchool of Coups.

Shine the light.

Father Roy Bourgeois is a Catholic priest, a formermissionary, and founder of SOA Watch. Margaret Knapkeis a longtime Latin America human-rights activist. Bothhave served federal prison terms for nonviolent civildisobedience aimed at closing the School of theAmericas and are Foreign Policy In Focus contributors.